Lost at Running Brook Trail Read Online Free PDF Page B

gravel path facing the creek.
    “Do you have water?” Miriam asked.
    “A little,” Susan answered.
    “So how are you going to get water in your bottle?” Elaine interjected. “If I were you I would come down here.”
    Susan reluctantly got up from the road and mustered all her energy. She skated down the path, raking up leaves and stones in her wake.
    “Good of you to join us,” Elaine said.
    Kimberly, unconcerned with the others, filled her bottle. She emptied the full bottle on her hair and washed it with something in a small bottle that looked like shampoo. She was finally contented that it was fully washed and began to wring the entire thing out like a long yellow rag.
    Elaine filled two bottles. She had carried an extra one because she knew how thirsty she got, especially when she was this exposed to the sun.
    “We should eat lunch,” Susan said after washing her face. She was glad she had finally come down because she felt refreshed.
    “You can eat if you want to,” Elaine said, “but I’ll be prolonging lunch until I’m really starving. We could be out here for a while.”
    They sat by the creek, not wanting to leave. They watched the water wind its way over and around the rocks. Some parts were clear so the bottom was clear, but many parts were dark, shadowed by the trees hanging over its path.
    Scampering up the incline like squirrels in the bushes, they headed for the trail again. They had forgone their eating plans. Kimberly was used to this. She prided herself on being thin. She wasn’t going to be a plus-sized model. She was going to be slim, pouty and angry-looking while making millions.
    However, Susan, who couldn’t wait, had half a sandwich in one hand, a neat bite-sized crescent in its centre. Eating and climbing lethargically, she was left behind. One hand held the sandwich, the other clung to a supporting shrub. She made it back up to the gravel path safely, the half sandwich eaten.
    They began walking again. The gravel path slanted away to the left so that the creek could no longer be seen but provided a backdrop of sounds in the distance. Perhaps it was the soundtrack to their being lost and alone. The cries of birds pierced the air at intervals, haunted in their calling to each other.
    Miriam continued her stone-kicking ritual, but travelling on a gravel road filled with small rocks, she had to concentrate on which stone she was kicking. Perhaps not even kicking the same one. “We’re really lost, aren’t we?” she asked Elaine after she let another stone fly.
    “It looks that way.” Elaine adjusted the bag on her back. The straps seemed to be eating into her shoulders. “But we might find them or they might find us.”
    “It’s because of that one.” Miriam nodded back toward Kimberly, who was walking behind them.
    “Only partially. We stopped of our own accord, and Mrs. Marks had warned us not to separate from the group. We’re going to be in deep for this one. We’re supposedly on a learning trip and we messed up big time. We can’t even follow simple instructions.”
    They walked at a slower pace now. Heat and hunger took their toll, and it was hard to keep walking over small, packed-in stones.
    “They messed up too,” Miriam responded. “They’re supposed to protect us with bells and whistles and all that stuff. So it evens out.”
    “Yeah, like we could really make that one stick. Why do they need bells and whistles when we were given very specific directives? That’s how they’re going to spin it.”
    The sounds of the keys on a phone broke into the quiet. Kimberly held a BlackBerry Storm in her hands.
    “You had a phone all along, you idiot!” Miriam rushed back and attempted to grab the Storm from Kimberly. The phone hit the ground.
    “If my phone is damaged, you’ll pay.” Kimberly bent and picked up the phone. She had just bought it, and now it was possible it was broken. Why did she have to be on this trip anyway? Here she was on this godforsaken